Students At Lafayette Protest Liquor Curfew

Easton police and firemen were asked to leave the Lafayette College campus early yesterday morning after being summoned to put out a bonfire started by students.

The students were protesting a curfew, recently imposed by the college, that prohibits the serving of alcohol after 2 a.m. anywhere on campus.

Police Capt. Skip Fairchild said that Lafayette College Security Chief Hugh Harris called the fire department at 2:18 a.m. to put out a bonfire started by students in the quadrangle.

Fairchild said several hundred students were in the quadrangle at the time of the incident. He said that, when fire and police officials arrived, some students threw liquor and beer bottles at the trucks and fire personnel.

When members of the college administration were consulted, Fairchild said, "They decided that, rather than create more problems, they chose to avoid a confrontation (with the students).

"They requested the fire department and police department not respond. So we pulled back to the fringes to make sure it didn't spill over to the city streets."

The police captain noted that despite the bottle throwing, the overall protest was "contained." Although the bonfire was large, Fairchild said "it wasn't endangering anything."

"I guess they (the students) just didn't appreciate the fire department trying to put out their bonfire. The college decided to handle it internally. No arrests were made, and there were no injuries," he said.

He added, "Because of the large number of people there, it was impossible to see who threw the bottles, so there were no charges filed."

Herman C. Kissiah, Lafayette College dean of students, said he and other members of the college administration were on campus throughout the incident. He said he had not heard any report of students throwing bottles at police and fire officials.

"If we can identify people who tried to interfere with the police or fire department in the course of performing their duties, we will take disciplinary action," Kissiah said.

When asked what caused the administration to ask police and fire officials to leave the campus, Kissiah said, "We chose not to interfere because it was a lawful assembly."

The dean said the protest died down "naturally" not long after police and fire officials left the campus.

Kissiah said of the protest, "It was simply a demonstration over their (the students') unhappiness at a recent faculty decision."

He indicated that protest was not illegal on campus and said, "The only thing irregular about this was the time, which was 2 a.m. - the hour in which the regulation was imposed. We've talked to a number of students and taken several statements, and will pursue the appropriate disciplinary action."

Kissiah later modified that statement, saying, "If we find they (the students) have violated our rules and regulations, we will take disciplinary action."

Kissiah said the 2 a.m. curfewwas approved by a general vote of the faculty last December and took effect in January.

"We had a concern for some time about certain rules and regulations of the college. The faculty committee on campus life reviewed these things during the first semester. They met with various student groups and student bodies, and in December 1984 adopted a series of motions that we believe will significantly enhance the quality of student life," Kissiah said.

"Unfortunately, some of these changes contain restrictions on some things that were previously allowed," he said.

Kissiah said students at Lafayette staged a similar protest over the drinking curfew and other changes in early December.

The Easton Fire Department was to have nothing official to say until this morning.